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Rogelio Naranjo

The Mexican master cartoonist & colleague Rogelio Naranjo, passed away on Nov 11, 2016. Born in Morelia, Mexico in 1937, he is one of a triumvirate of emerging political cartoonists (the other are Eduardo del Rio "Rius" and Helio Flores) who fluorished in Mexico at the end of the tumultuous 1960's, denouncing the government and its represive policies with their cartoons. They would influence new generations of cartoonists.Naranjo's style was simple and complex at the same time, a clean silhouette will be filled with countless small lines and plenty of irony. He was a founder in 1968 of La Garrapata, an influential satyrical magazine. He also contributed to diverse critical, intelectual and opposition publications, with regular cartoons in the daily El Universal and the weekly Proceso. Received awards for his work in Cuba, Nicaragua, Portugal and in his native Mexico. In 2011 Naranjo donated more than 10,000 of his cartoons to the National Autunomous University of Mexico. A retrospective of his work was exhibited at UNAM Tlatelolco in 2012 and was titled "Vivir en la Raya" or "Living in the Line", a Mexican expression which means living on the edge or day to day. A phrase that also summarizes his life, according to his drawing style.I had the chance to meet him only once, back in 1984, at his home in Mexico City but was honored to have crossed paths with him working in publications like La Garrapata, Insurgencia Popular, Crítica Política and La Cultura en México/Siempre. I'm sharing here some of his works plus a cartoon/ homage I did for his retrospective's catalog exhibition (it was nice to find a photo of him with my cartoon in the back!) Rest in peace, and among us, within the millions of lines he draw.

UTOPIA

UTOPIA

Utopia is it future or no future ? Is it the possibility or the impossibility of a better future on earth before the very final end in about 4 billion years ?

I think that humankind has started very early searching for something better than our small short lives spent running and hunting... or being hunted. In fact, I think we have never accepted our condition of little poor things full of fear and lost in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in a vast univers we didn't understand. But I also think that the very first liberation gesture of humans has happened at the very right moment we started looking at the stars and thinking of infinite.

Humanity is made of reality but also of dream, perhaps first of all of dream. Dreaming of another world is perhaps the first way humans choosed to try to scape from a reality which is mostly made of negative things: hunger, cold, fear, violence, slavery, hate, poverty, ilness, death... History is full of fight and blood. Reality of human beings have been builded all along our time on earth by war and destructions. And that is not at all finished...

So, the idea of Utopia happened, in old times and, later, in modern times. At the 19th century new concepts where thought by some intellectuals who tried to think philosophy, economics, sciences in a different way. They invented new rules in order to bring a new kind of light over the difficult life of most people. A different light to show the way to a new world made of harmony and happiness. They have refused the reality of a society of power, money, exploitation and they have builded virtual marvelous cities, ideal cities made of solidarity and progress where quality should be the norme, not quantity.

On the contrary, the model of our modern society is more than ever "no quality but quantity". That's why, perhaps, our "ideal" of Utopia, today, is made of just a little more ecology in order to have a little more quality of food and a little more quality of drinking and a little more quality of air in order to go on living our little lives a little longer... Big ideas seem not to have anymore place in our society. The old good model called "American way of life" is leading everywhere on earth and earth is not big enough for that model, but we keep going straight on, I don't know where... That's why I'm afraid there is no future for Utopia.

But, I should like to believe that a very little light is still shining in the dark. For instance, here in Niels Bugge, a beautiful couple of dreamers, the very modern utopists Gitte and Poul, are building a new concept in the Danish countryside made of a very high quality of life. On that way to make people being much better together, we, cartoonists of several countries, we have been following them with our cartoons but also our friendship and our vision perhaps different of things. With our sense of humour, our non acceptation of everything which is wrong all over the world and with the help of our little pencils we, perhaps the last Mohicans, we still are drawing for a possible new world made of utopias. Even if we don't believe it really migh happen someday.

Anyway, perhaps this is time to ask my good friend and great Swedish cartoonist Riber Hansson to join me so I nominate him Doctor Honoris Causa in International Cartoonism by the Danish "University" of Niels Bugge.

Thank you. Tak. Or tak-tak, as say Swedish...

Carlos Brito

Viborg, the 28th May 2016

Carlos Nine

When you are mentioning Carlos Nine's name anywhere in the world of graphic arts, you can hear a „Ahhh!“, which meens approval, pleasure, admiration. It´s like saying „ Do not say anything, with Nine we don´t need a discussion, he is the best“. Talking about Nine after July 16th 2016 it´s like adding to our big admiration also a big sadness, because the extraordinary and great artist Carlos Nine is no longer with us.The most relevant in his marvelous drawings is a mixt of lyricism and irony, a subtle fantasy and fine eroticism attached to a magnificent coloration. There are drawings which let us feel well and which give harmony to our souls. He is clearly recognizable, and fortunately also recognized by editors and colleagues from all over the world. You could find his biography on the web, for example here you have a site: Carlos Nine

I only wish to comment how I met Carlos Nine for the first and only time in my life. It´s not pathetic or extraordinary, but it will remain in my memory all my life.A few years ago, at the turn of the millennium, my friend Izel Rozental proposed to me to organize an exhibition with Latin American cartoonists to be shown at the Schneidertempel Art Center from Istanbul. Then I did not have the long list of cartoonists from South America I have today, but in one of my trips to Argentina I contacted everybody I knew in my country. I got contributions from Crist, Angonoa, Ana von Rebeur, Furnier, Lombar, Maicas, Langer, etc. I also took some of my own cartoons. I did not know Carlos Nine personnaly, but I had his phone number, so I called him thinking that he was perhaps too busy or not interested into the project.But not at all. We made an appointment and I went to his house, with great expectation because I always was a fan from his graphic art.

He received me in his studio with the warmth and friendliness which is typical for kind people, I talked with him about the project of this very first exhibition dedicated to Latin American Cartooning in Turkey, and suddenly he gave me some of his originals. Not only that, we also talked about Cartooning in Argentina and in Europe, about the happiness we have making our job and also about the troubles which began to loom in the graphic world. I talked with him about FECO, our organization working for international Cartooning, he showed me his files… We looked and studied his drawings and watercolors, his books and catalogues, while chatting and chatting. I was increasingly admiring and also amazed with all this beautiful work.

When I said good bye I noticed that I was not only with a great artist but also with a wonderful man, a talented and a rather simple person, without any blaze of glory, because it does not correspond with his way of being.

The exhibition “Latinoamericano Karikatürler/Cartoons” took place in 2002 in the beautiful room of Schneidertempel Art Center, an ancient synagogue remodeled for exhibitions and events in the Galata area, and the public could see and admire several representatives from current Cartoonists from Latin America. We had - in addition to those already named – Ares, Garrincha and Lauzán from Cuba, Pilozo from Ecuador, Boligán from Cuba-Mexico, Santiago, Ronaldo and Simanca from Brazil, Morales from Guatemala, and so on. Of course we had the works from Carlos Nine, with his absolutely original and fantastic trait. All the original works were returned later to their authors and what it left us is a good catalogue as the memory of that important exhibition.

CALL FOR ARTISTS: "TRIBUTE TO THE DISAPPEARED"

FECO CARTOONISTS ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN TRIBUTE TO THE DISAPPEARED! This art project is curated independently by Andrea Arroyo and over 300 international artists are participating."Tribute to the Disappeared” is an art project in honor of the disappeared in Mexico and other victims of injustice around the world. This project aims to foster international solidarity and to bring public attention to the countless innocent lives impacted by injustice, poverty and displacement (This is not a contest but a solidarity project, there are no awards involved.)

- Images should be formatted as JPG, 300dpi, 6 inches (15 cm.) wide.- Videos should be formatted as .mov or .mp4 (max 15MB) preferred, or be hosted on vimeo or youtube.- Include the following information with your submission: Artist's name, title, year, media, country of birth/residency, email and website (if available.)- Artists keep copyright and original art. By submitting to this project, artists grant permission to use their images/videos for non-commercial purposes, including but not limited to, online and physical exhibitions and promotion of Tribute to the Disappeared.Questions: Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.